Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have created legislation that gives an authority administrative powers. I find it confusing then, and this aspect will not be within the remit of the Minister of State, that when we seek to advance other policies where administrative decisions could be made, such as, for example, in drug decriminalisation, we are told we live in a country that operates under common law and not civil law and that there are no administrative powers. Therefore, I am wondering how we can create administrative powers to allow for, and to anonymise, sanctions in one area of legislation while we cannot in others.

I am probably going to take it as a positive development that we now can create systems whereby the law can be administered at that level, because then it would benefit other areas we have been working on concerning matters such as drug decriminalisation. The Minister of State spoke about the EU regulations by which we are bound and mentioned that material is released on the relevant website. With that in mind, I wonder if the Minister of State will commit to a compromise whereby a report would be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in respect of this authority each year, and within which there would be a breakdown of the number of cases the authority has undertaken in the previous year and details of the proportion of those cases granted anonymity.